Sir, – The vast majority of homecare provision in Ireland is funded by the State by way of HSE home-help service and State-funded private provision by open tender, and the State determines the level of homecare provision and the remuneration of carers through this process.
The reality is that home carers are not guaranteed work, repayment of travel expenses between assignments, or guaranteed hours per week because the State will not pay for this through the outsource process.
Carer benefits are not a decision for private homecare providers to make and it is is no surprise that there is a staff shortage in the homecare sector.
What the HSE and the Government refuse to recognise is that the lack of a fully functioning homecare sector will only lead into the unavailability of acute hospital beds on an incremental basis as the population ages.
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It is my unfortunate conclusion that Government will continue ignore this issue with vulnerable people until TDs and their families cannot get into an acute hospital bed because they are full of over 85 acute patients for the want of homecare.
This vista is not far away with our demographic of older people. – Yours, etc,
JONATHAN ROTH,
Limerick.